Gemini

Nothing on the website yet. Sorry.

Easy to multi task if you are a woman. Men just don't have the necessary brain power.

Does Ronnie Allen cover meetings in the Midlands and South or is he mostly a Northern ref? Serious question because I wonder if referees are given meetings fairly near to where they live, hence Tony Steele being in charge of Leicester last night (allegedly.) I really don't see how the same person can be in charge of the track and be a team manager as well, especially when Glyn, by all accounts, seems to spend most of his time grading the track. Has this scenario happened anywhere else?

Why does speedway continually shoot itself in the foot? The biggest gripe from fans is endlessly waiting around for races to start and riders being allowed to return to the pits after a false start. When will promoters, referees, clerk of the course, the bloke that keeps driving the tractor round lap after lap get the message?! I went to Coventry as usual on Friday and got back to Leicester at about the same time my husband returned from Beaumont Park last night - 10.50pm - but meetings don't start at Brandon until 8 o'clock and I also watched all of the second half Mercia Vikings match, plus demonstration rides by 14 year old Nathan Grieves, whereas Leicester's scheduled start time was 7.30pm and there were just 15 races. Diabolical to keep fans hanging around for so long in the cold. No wonder so many walked out before the end.

Well, we certainly get our moneys worth at Coventry then as meetings normally take forever to get through. I don't think I was really just referring to 15 minutes of racing when I posted (could have done though - I'm a woman so who knows?) I've been a supporter for long enough to remember when we did get value for money - a league meeting followed by a second half, probably 20 or more races in all, whereas now at most tracks it's just the league match and that's it. I don't class all the preparation, digging and gardening at the tapes an entertaining part of the event . Add to that the fact that some riders can't even be bothered to come round after winning a race so the fans can show their appreciation makes me think speedway is quite an expensive night out, so yes on second thoughts I probably was referring to just 15 minutes of racing. Oh....and don't get me started on them all returning to the pits for 5 minutes after a false start. That's not entertaining either. Well, you're lucky then because I've only seen him once this season way back at the beginning of April.

Actually Leicester charge £15 for adults and Coventry's went up to £17 this season but concessions are the same price - £13. Agree with you though speedway is too expensive for the amount of racing we see.

Thanks for clearing that little matter up. So the diabolical track for the Bees match against Lakeside was all Ron's fault and not the Coventry track staff.

Hey I can probably provide that as I've got nearly a year to train her. Free entrance, a programme and a Bonio for Lucy is all I will ask for.

But that match happened nearly a week ago so there isn't much else to say about it. As there doesn't seem to be a Leicester 2012 thread then I suppose it's natural that people will carry on discussions on the last Leicester thread, which is this one. Perhaps on Sunday we can all transfer to the Pride of the Midlands.

Is this the attitude you want that Michael Lee was referring to at Mildenhall last Sunday? "Offensive and pathetic behaviour." "Quite a few were drunk when they arrived at the track and they quickly got a lot worse." "It wasn't banter, it was nasty horrible stuff. The language was appalling and a lot of Mildenhall fans had to move to take their children away from it." Think I'd prefer the Leicester fans to stay as they are thanks as they are regularly classed as being nice and friendly.

Thank you.

Damn! Will have to miss that as we're on holiday.

I've sussed out what he is but not who he is.

Lovely friendly bunch of fans on here.

Mind the Crocodiles in the swamp next time.

Simon struggled at Leicester but wasn't he in the 1-5 there? At reserve he should do a lot better.

I do hope you weren't at Coventry tonight or watched the meeting on Sky. It probably made Leicester's look really exciting.

There is a topic on here in the Speedway General Discussions section called False Starts and I think we are all in agreement that riders returning to the pits when they've only gone about two hundred yards is very annoying. At Coventry as soon as there is a false start a man in orange overalls rushes to open the gate so all the riders can toddle off back to the pits and we're left standing around for another 5 minutes. Drives me mad and personally I'd rugby tackle him if I was younger and had the strength.

I think you are wrong there. Barrow boy has always stuck up for Leicester so for him to say anything negative means he must have been really cheesed off. I won't mention any names but someone else I know was being critical as well so it really must have not been a very enjoyable evening.

I agree that was a great post. I disagree about Leicester fans though as I reckon Coventry's are the worst for never ending moaning and whingeing all season long, and I say that as a Bees fan.

Just had a very heavy shower but now the sun is out again. The Leicester track has very good drainage so showers won't do any harm - just water the track nicely.

I'd say they entertained alright - just in the wrong sort of way and much too scary for me. I don't like to be on edge all night waiting to see which rider is going to manage to complete four laps without hitting the fence. I think Vaclav Milik won overall in the scary entertainment stakes.

Well, credit where it's due but I don't really know where it's due - clerk of the course or referee - but this meeting definitely started off speedily with riders being put on two minutes as soon as the previous race results had been announced. Unfortunately though the pace couldn't be kept up because some of the riders seemed to have a death wish and kept heading towards the fence or doing a pirouette before spectacularly falling off. If that was what speedway was like every week I'm afraid I wouldn't go because I'd be a nervous wreck and it has just reinforced my view that speedway riders must be completely crackers to take up the sport. Roll on Monday when I can watch the more sedate racing in the Elite League. Well done to Michael Jepsen Jensen on a 15 point maximum. Oh...and it was nice to meet Stevebrum at last, also Racers & Royals. Not surprising really the amount of rain that has fallen and still continued to fall throughout the meeting.

IF they get a move on they might get through this meeting before the rain starts again, which is forecast around 10pm...depending on which forecast you read. So what's the chances of running it like a G.P. which is usually pretty quick and not like the Brandonapolis? Get the riders out for the next race within a couple of minutes of the result being announced. False start - straight round to the tapes again without returning to the pits for five minutes. It ispossible for meetings to be run smoothly but for some reason it seems to be a struggle at Coventry, so fingers crossed I am in a good mood when I get back to Leicester, which hopefully will be before midnight.

What's happened to Dan?